BOULDER - Colorado’s defense has spent fall camp getting baptized by fire, and that was entirely by design.
Every day, the Buffs lined up across from Brennan Marion’s Go-Go offense, an attack Andre Hart called one of the most unusual looks a defense can face. The idea, Hart said, was simple: make the toughest test the daily habit.
"As a coach, you always want to give your players the hardest thing first, and it's just a blessing to have Brennan Marion's Go-Go offense, because that's one of the more unusual offenses you're going to face," linebackers coach Andre Hart said. "I'm not going to say any offense is simpler - it's not that it's simple, but there's not so many variations.
I think it makes it easier to get the information across to the players. So, yeah, I love that we did the hardest things first."
For the linebackers, that meant a steady diet of motion, shifts and option looks that forced them to communicate, sort and react on the fly. Fifth-year linebacker Tyler Martinez said the challenge has been constant since spring.
"Coach Marion challenges us every day," fifth-year linebacker Tyler Martinez said. "Like, he comes out in the most exotic looks you'll ever see, and it challenges you to communicate with the defense and just do your job - versus trying to be a superhero and making every play you can. We're finally going to get to go against somewhat of a normal offense."
That daily grind has been especially valuable because Colorado opens Thursday, Sept. 3 at Georgia Tech at 6 p.m. MT on ESPN, against a team that leans on a physical run game with the quarterback involved. That’s exactly the kind of stress the Go-Go has been putting on the Buffs all camp.
Fourth-year linebacker Liona Lefau said the work against a plus-one run game has sharpened the defense’s fit rules.
"Anytime you practice fitting in a plus-one run game - which is when you account for the quarterback as well - it really helps," Lefau said. "It really challenges your rules at times. So just having the quarterback accounted for in each of our run fits, it helps when we prepare for a team like Georgia Tech, who also runs their quarterback."
Hart said the benefit goes beyond repetition. Watching the offense from the other side of the ball has also served as a built-in scouting lesson.
"You seeing some really funky looks, and how they're getting people in positions for mismatches, and you get to teach to that," Hart said. "It's going to be kind of similar to what Georgia Tech does, in a sense of how they move around. To be able to see that through the summer and through the spring, and now in the fall, I think it just makes us that much better."
The biggest lesson, though, has been communication. Hart said Thursday’s keys are "elite communication and smooth operations," and the defense has been working without the green-dot helmet communication in practice, which he likes.
"I love that we're not practicing with the green dot yet, because now it makes everybody accountable," Hart said. "Don't just rely on the green dot. Make sure you're communicating with the people on your side you need to communicate with."
Martinez said that message has stuck.
"We're all in charge of communicating," Martinez said. "It's a team responsibility. It's not just one person."
There has been a cost to going against the Go-Go every day. Sometimes the offense wins the rep, and the defense has had to wear it.
"When you're in it, it sucks. It's more like, dang, he got us," Martinez said.
"But it's good, because it's always a competitive practice. There's never one side just completely obliterating.
It's always competitive, back and forth. I think that's the best thing we've seen this fall camp - just the overall competitiveness of this team."
Now the Buffs get a different kind of test: one opponent, one identity, and a quarterback-driven run game to stop. Lampron said the job is straightforward after a summer spent dealing with chaos.
"The biggest thing for us is just doing our job, not playing selfish," Lampron said. "Trying to make plays within the scheme of the defense. Don't be freestyling out there."
Hart thinks that preparation will show up quickly.
"Our play style. I think that's the biggest thing," Hart said. "It's not the call; it's the play style, and I think people are going to be really excited about how we play ball."
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